Can Learning to Cook Make You Happy? Cookery Courses - the Happiest Courses You Can Do

According to the NHS, there are five steps we can all take
that can improve our mental wellbeing: connecting with others, getting active,
learning new skills, giving to others and taking notice of the world around us.
Learning to cook can actively help you to pursue happiness in many of these
areas.

When you go on a cookery course, it ticks the happiness
boxes in more ways than say a scuba diving course because it not only teaches a
new skill but it is sociable at the time. Tasting delicious food works on the
reward centres of the brain so we get instant gratification too- a feel-good
hit. Any cookery school worth their salt, will teach you about provenance and
sustainability - or where your food comes from, so you engage in a more
holistic way with food. A cookery course also teaches you skills, which is a
confidence boost.

The University of Berkeley, California when looking at ways
in which people use money to make them happy, discovered that people very
quickly get used to object or things, so buying 'stuff' does not necessarily
bring us lasting happiness. However looking back on 'experiences' we have spent
money on does. So rather than buy a box of chocolates for someone, buy them a cookery course
learning how to make chocolate to maximise on the happiness boosting brownie
points!

But the key aspect in the happiness- enhancing qualities of
cookery courses is we can also take the
skills we learn to cook for friends and family, increasing our connectedness
which is one of the most important markers for long-term happiness. These are skills
which stay with you and can be built on, not just a flash in the pan like a
one-off paragliding lesson for example.

Engaging in 'pro-social' behaviour such as giving to others
or being in the service of others is another happiness-boosting activity, which
gets met when you cook for people, you sit and share a meal and the
appreciative 'Mmmmmm' wafts around the
table.

Leading happiness expert and Professor of Psychology at the
University of North Carolina, Barbara Fredrickson argues that connecting with
others in a positive way has such a beneficial effect on our cardio vascular
system and reduces inflammation that actively seeking out opportunities to
connect with others should be one of our five a day. In a cookery course you
can learn how to cook healthy delicious food and also the mere act of doing
this with others is giving your system a work out!

Boost your happiness and book on a cookery course today with an ICSA accredited school:

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